Birmingham Airport unveils vision for growth, up to 70 million passengers per year, new business park etc etc

Date added: June 10, 2013

Birmingham Airport has unveiled long-term growth plans to challenge Heathrow’s supremacy and help to what they say will ‘rebalance the UK economy’. The plan would see Birmingham catering for 70m air passengers a year and 500,000 flights a year – both slightly more than Heathrow now. A business park for the Midland’s manufacturing sector is also proposed alongside the expanded airport site and has the backing of some business leaders and local councils. It, of course, predictably, promises huge numbers of jobs – no less than a quarter of a million. Paul Kehoe, the airport’s CEO, expects that in 20 years’ time British air travel will double – though there is no evidence for this, and it is utterly at variance with the advice of the UK’s Committee on Climate Change that UK air passengers could perhaps increase by 60% on 2005 levels by 2050. For the whole of the UK. Birmingham airport thinks transport infrastructure acts as an economic enabler, “a pathway to a virtuous cycle of growth”, and “each major regional economy cannot succeed without its own meaningful international gateway.” They believe “the UK economy is large enough to support at least four major ‘national’ airports – London, Midlands, North West, Scotland”.

Birmingham Airport – A great airport for a great city

On 10th June 2013, Birmingham Airport launched its long-term vision for UK aviation. The vision shows how Birmingham Airport will be at the centre of a network of great airports delivering aviation capacity and connectivity to the great cities of Britain. The Airport’s development strategy will plug the greater Midlands economy into global wealth and enable businesses to reach the markets they need to deliver jobs and growth for future generations.

Birmingham Airport’s proposal meets the Airports Commission’s criteria because it is not just about runways. It is about creating the infrastructure to support Birmingham, London and Manchester. Each region has its own economic identity and requires unique international connectivity to cater for those needs.

Expansion at Birmingham Airport will make a substantial contribution to meeting growth in the UK’s air passenger demand in the long-term. It is cost effective, in line with UK climate change commitments and has been carefully designed to align with existing regional development and transport investment strategies. This consistency will maximise the social and economic value of major developments, such as the M42 gateway, HS2, and the Greater Birmingham project.

The Airport will be submitting a full response to the Airports Commission on 19th July 2013.

Birmingham Airport unveils vision for growth, a new business park and 250,000 jobs in the region

Airport’s long-term vision endorsed by Midland business leaders including GBSLEP and Chamber of Commerce

9.6.2013 (Birmingham Post0

Paul Kehoe, chief executive of Birmingham Airport

Birmingham Airport has joined forces with a coalition of business leaders to unveil plans that enable it to grow and help create a quarter of a million Midland jobs in the process.

Its vision, which has been formally endorsed by the Greater Birmingham and Solihull LEP, the Black Country LEP and the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce Group, supports growth of up to 70 million passengers each year and up to 500,000 air transport movements from an expanded facility.[Bearing in mind Birmingham airport had approximately 9 million passengers in 2010 – AW].

The airport’s plan supports the development of a business park for the Midlands manufacturing sector alongside the expanded site, and one of Europe’s biggest conference centres at the NEC.

The airport’s long-term vision is a response to questions asked by the Airports Commission, which is examining the need for additional UK airport capacity and will recommend to government how this can be met in the short, medium and long-term.

Paul Kehoe, CEO of Birmingham Airport, said great cities like Birmingham deserve great airports.

“In 20 years’ time British air travel will double and it is widely acknowledged that all the country’s long-haul traffic cannot be routed through one airport in West London,” he said. [There is no reason why the UK’s air travel will double. The UK’s population may grow from some 63 million now to some 73 million by 2035 link. ie. 16% more. So needing a doubling in flights? The Committee on Climate Change anticipates that to keep within UK climate targets, an increase of some 60% in the number of air passengers, over the number in 2005, might be possible by 2050. link Birmingham Airport sees itself taking a highly disproportionate share share of this expansion for itself. AW]

“Instead, we believe that the best thing for UK aviation is to create a network of long-haul national airports, each supporting the comparative economic advantages of that region to boost trade, foreign investment and tourism.”

A high proportion of the country’s potential demand for business air travel comes from the Midlands catchment area, which is home to half a million businesses, 6.5 million employees and specialises in high-value manufacturing sectors.

The Airport’s vision is for London, Birmingham and Manchester to all have the great long-haul airports that they need to succeed, whilst at the same time providing flexibility and resilience for the UK aviation sector.

The network proposal excludes expansion at Heathrow because that would expose too many people living in West London to unacceptable noise pollution. However, the network complements a new mega-hub in the South East or a more dispersed model.

With central transport links, long-haul runway and spare capacity for 27 million passengers, Birmingham Airport has been arguing to the Commission that it can offer much-needed capacity in the short-term. This recent announcement gives Birmingham the ability to play its part in the long-term strategy too.

Mark Garnier MP (Conservativ, Wyre Forest), chair of the West Midlands APPG said: “A global travel hub at Birmingham Airport will bring long-haul air-travel to within one hour of the airport for 45 million people by 2032 when the HS2 network is fully operational. This will make it the most accessible airport in Britain.”

Sir Albert Bore, leader of Birmingham City Council believes the vision will help bring trade and prosperity for Britain’s industrial base in the Midlands, just as Heathrow has helped the high-tech concentration along the ‘M4 corridor’ and helped support the global position of The City.

Jerry Blackett, chief executive of the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce said: “At a time of our manufacturing renaissance, it makes no sense for business people to traipse to London to travel to major markets overseas. To succeed, our business people need direct, convenient flights to visit suppliers and clients in major new markets like China and India.”

Birmingham Airport expected to announce plans for 2nd runway and new terminal to the Airports Commission

Birmingham Airport is expected to announce shortly that it is considering building a 2nd runway, and submit its plan to the Airports Commission. The airport wants to be considered as a major part of Britain’s aviation plans for the future, and could be a hub for European airports. Back in 2007 the airport’s plans for a second runway, in its Master Plans, were dropped in favour of the runway extension – due to open in 2014. If HS2 is built, Birmingham airport intends to benefit from it. Proposals include another terminal, incorporating HS2, as well as the runway. It is thought that the airport will say, in its submission, that the runway may not be needed for a long time, even decades as it currently caters for some 9 million passengers and could take over 25 million on its one runway. The airport’s plans are reported to be supported by the West Midlands Economic Forum which will release a report expected to say that there is plenty more potential growth for Birmingham Airport as the world economy grows. MP Mark Garnier said the airport needed to capitalise on being at the heart of the motorway and potential high-speed rail networks.

Looking at Birmingham airport’s submission to the earlier Airports Commission discussion on making the best use of short term and medium term airport capacity (May 2013) at Response from Birmingham Airport I notice that – as usual – on page 5 they have given the greenhouse gas impacts of this an neatly only count the landing and takeoff emissions and not any part of the cruise emissions. I cannot understand how a rational person can include merely the take-off and landing cycle emissions, but not the rest of the flight, including the one and not the other ?

In addition, they classify the aviation emissions as an indirect impact of expansion,not a direct one, as if they would pay all that money to make a bigger airport just for the privilege of driving their luggage trains round a bigger piece of concrete, and selling sunglasses to sightseers to the white elephant they had built? Of course, the purpose of the airport is to fly more passengers, and over long distances.

As Birmingham airport says on the basis that “An important part of understanding howBirmingham Airport can reduce emissions is to measure what is currently emitted from our operations what gets measured gets managed”. ie. not a lot.

Air travel is one of the very highest carbon-emitting activities known to man, especially if calculated on a per hour basis.

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Birmingham Airport press release:

BIRMINGHAM AIRPORT UNVEILS VISION FOR LONG-TERM ECONOMIC GROWTH

Birmingham Airport, together with a coalition of business leaders and local councils [1], will today (10 June) unveil a vision that would enable the Airport to grow in line with future demand, boosting global connectivity and creating over a quarter of a million new jobs in the Midlands, helping to rebalance the UK economy. This vision supports growth of up to 70 million passengers each year and up to 500,000 air transport movements from an expanded facility. The Airport’s vision supports the development of a business park for the Midland’s manufacturing sector alongside the expanded site, and one of Europe’s biggest conference centres at the NEC, all based at the cross-roads of Britain’s road and rail systems [2]. The Airport’s long-term vision is a response to questions asked by the Airports Commission, which is examining the need for additional UK airport capacity and will recommend to Government how this can be met in the short, medium and long-term. Paul Kehoe, CEO of Birmingham Airport, said: “Great cities like Birmingham deserve great airports. In twenty years’ time British air travel will double and it is widely acknowledged that all the country’s long-haul traffic cannot be routed through one airport in West London. “Instead, we believe that the best thing for UK aviation is to create a network of long-haul national airports, each supporting the comparative economic advantages of that region to boost trade, foreign investment and tourism.” A high proportion of the country’s potential demand for business air travel comes from the Midlands catchment area. It is home to half a million businesses, 6.5 million employees and specialises in high-value manufacturing sectors. Expanding Birmingham Airport alongside the M42 gateway project and High Speed Two is a once in a generation opportunity to meet the UK’s aviation capacity needs. The Airport’s vision is for London, Birmingham and Manchester to all have the great long-haul airports that they need to succeed, whilst at the same time providing flexibility and resilience for the UK aviation sector. The network proposal excludes expansion at Heathrow because that would expose too many people living in West London to unacceptable noise pollution. However, the network complements a new mega-hub in the South East or a more dispersed model. With its excellent transport links, long-haul runway and spare capacity for 27 million passengers, Birmingham Airport has been arguing to the
Commission that it can offer much-needed capacity in the short-term. This
recent announcement gives Birmingham the ability to play its part in the
long-term strategy too.
Mark Garnier MP, Conservative MP for Wyre Forest and Chair of the West
Midlands APPG said:
“A global travel hub at Birmingham Airport will bring long-haul air-travel
to within one hour of the airport for 45 million people by 2032 when the
HS2 network is fully operational. This will make it the most accessible
airport in Britain”.
Sir Albert Bore, Leader of Birmingham City Council said:
“This vision will help bring trade and prosperity for Britain’s industrial
base in the Midlands, just as Heathrow has helped the high-tech
concentration along the ‘M4 corridor’ and helped support the global
position of The City.”
Jerry Blackett, chief executive of the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce said:
“At a time of our manufacturing renaissance, it makes no sense for business
people to traipse to London to travel to major markets overseas. To
succeed, our business people need direct, convenient flights to visit
suppliers and clients in major new markets like China and India.”
-ends-Key facts:-

· In 2011, 3 million business trips were made from Birmingham
Airport. Economic consultancy Capital Economics, has predicted that by 2032
the Airport could serve up to 18m business travellers, second only to
Heathrow.

· Birmingham Airport’s catchment has the second biggest demand for
business travel. It has 500,000 businesses in its catchment, second only to
Heathrow at 600,000.

· The majority of these are high-value manufacturing companies that
currently export goods valued at £25.1 billion each year to long-haul
markets without direct air links.

· Three million business people from the Airport’s catchment travel
to Heathrow each year, adding unsustainable pressure and clogging up the
road and rail network.

· Over the next 20 years annual passenger numbers will increase by 220 million passengers and yet plans for an additional runway at Heathrow only offers additional capacity for 20 million passengers.

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Notes to editors:- 1. [1] The Airport’s submission to the Commission has been formally endorsed by the Greater Birmingham and Solihull LEP, the Black Country LEP and the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce Group. 2. [2] The launch document can be found at: http://changeopinion.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/WES_fast_leaflet_may2013_PRINT_single_pgs_small.pdf.

The contents of this document are also embargoed until 0001 Monday 10th June. 3.

The full press Q&A can be found at http://changeopinion.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Press-QandA-full.pdf.

The Capital Economics Report can be found at www.balancedaviationdebate.com

This vision will form part of Birmingham Airport’s long-term response to the Airports Commission who will decide which proposals merit more detailed consideration. If the Airports Commission reaches a view in its interim report that a significant increase in aviation capacity is needed, the recommended options will be developed into more detailed schemes on which further public engagement will be sought.

More information can be found at www.balancedaviationdebate.com ‘Best Airport’ Winner at the National Transport Awards 2012. Let’s have a proper debate about UK’s aviation needs & how to make best use of what we already have www.balancedaviationdebate.com/